London's 25 hottest tickets

1/4
Rihanna

2/4
Kirsten Dunst

3/4
Deepbluesea

Rattigan classic: Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston co-star in an adaptation of the 1952 play The Deep Blue Sea

4/4
Zoonation

Hot hip hop: ZooNation (above) pays tribute to Billy Wilder and Shakespeare in its new show at the Peacock Theatre

Diva fever: expect high production values at Rihanna's show

From Rihanna's 10-night run at the O2 to Michael Sheen's Hamlet and the London Jazz Festival, there's plenty to look forward to between now and Christmas...

MelancholiaCert 15. Release date: Sept 30There's sex on a golf course along with suicide and Wagner in Lars von Trier's mad melodrama, which stars Kirsten Dunst as Justine, a bridewho is about to have her life turned around by the apocalypse.

Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990Victoria & Albert Museum, SW7. Sep 24-Jan 15, 2012 (020 7942 2000, vam.ac.uk)The V&A's latest epochal survey attempts to identify the key ideas of the hard-to-define postmodern period, taking us on a tour through 250 exhibits that sum up its influence on the arts, design and architecture, including its leading exponents such as Wet magazine.

SavedLyric Hammesmith, W6. Oct 6-Nov 5 (0871 221 1729, lyric.co.uk)Edward Bond's play was incendiary when first staged in 1965 - almost half a century later it remains a provocative, disturbing vision of alienated young people.

Merce Cunningham/Legacy TourBarbican Theatre, EC2. Oct 5-8 (020 7638 8891, barbican.org.uk)Last chance to see the choreography of Merce Cunningham performed by his own troupe, which Cunningham decided should be wound up after his death. Look out for the ground-breaking collaborations with John Cage and Andy Warhol.

Death and the MaidenComedy Theatre, SW1. Oct 13-Jan 21, 2012 (0844 871 7627, theambassadors.com/comedy)Luminous British actor Thandie Newton makes her West End debut in director Jeremy Herrin's revival of this ingenious and suspenseful drama from Ariel Dorfman, which deals with his experience living under the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile.

Frieze Art FairRegent's Park, NW1. Oct 13-16 (0871 230 3452, friezeartfair.com)Brave the crowds and get a decent snapshot of current trends, confront the odd contemporary masterpiece and see some of the most dynamic galleries from across the world.

ZooNation/Some LikeIt Hip Hop Peacock Theatre, WC2. Oct 20-Nov 19 (0844 412 4300, sadlerswells.com)Billy Wilder's classic comedy Some Like It Hot and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night are the inspiration for director Kate Prince's new show, her latest since Into the Hoods.

We Need To Talk About KevinCert 15. Release date: Oct 21British maverick Lynne Ramsay is back after a nine-year gap with a gloomily poetic adaptation of Lionel Shriver's best-seller. A perfectly cast Tilda Swinton plays the American mother blamed for producing evil seed Kevin. A subversive yuppie nightmare.

Castor and PolluxColiseum, WC2. Oct 24-Dec 1 (020 7845 9420, eno.org)A highly promising production of the French Baroque opera from Ramau, which treats its subject of fraternal love with music of chaste, compelling beauty. The director is the controversial Australian-born Barrie Kosky, the conductor Christian Curnyn.

Leipzig Gewandhaus OrchestraBarbican Hall, EC2. Oct 25-Nov 3 (0845 120 7500, barbican.org.uk)Recent visits of the great Gewandhaus orchestra, whose illustrious tradition can be traced back to 1743, have electrified audiences. Now they present the complete Beethoven symphonies under Riccardo Chailly.

George Michael Royal Albert Hall, SW7. Oct 25/26/28/29 (020 7589 8212, royalalberthall.com) / Earl's Court, SW5. Dec 16/17/19 (0870 903 9033, eco.co.uk) His long European jaunt with a full orchestra has given George Michael the opportunity to rethink his classic material, including the Wham! stuff, and also to cover songs by those he admires such as Rufus Wainwright, Rihanna and Amy Winehouse.

Adventures of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn 3DCert TBC. Release date: Oct 26Hergé's hero Tintin joins the 21st century in Steven Spielberg's first animation project using performance-capture techniques. It places Jamie Bell as the diminutive journalist, Andy Serkisas Captain Haddock and Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as the Thompson Twins.

HamletYoung Vic, SE1. Oct 28-Jan 21, 2012 (020 7922 2922, youngvic.org)Michael Sheen is the latest high-profile actor to tackle Shakespeare's most exacting role, while Jerusalem director Ian Rickson takes on his first play by the Bard. It should be a powerful combination that holds the promise of an edgy and disorientating production.

The Help Cert 12A. Release date: Oct 26The deliciously gravel-voiced Emma Stone is a crusading white journalist in early 1960s Mississippi, who persuades two middle-aged black maids (the superb Viola Davis and Octavia Spence) to dish the dirt on their wealthy employers in this stirring re-working of Kathryn Stockett's novel.

London Jazz FestivalVarious venues. Nov 11-20 (Tickets and all the box office numbers at londonjazzfestival.org.uk)More than 50 venues are participating in this epic improvisational feast, including the Barbican, the Southbank Centre and Kings Place. Highlights include the McCoy Tyner Trio, a new film about Louis Armstrong, and three concerts by this year's Mercury jazz nominee Gwilym Simcock.

Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of MilanNational Gallery, WC2. Nov 9-Feb 5, 2012 (020 7747 2885, nationalgallery.org.uk)An unprecedented and unrepeatable gathering of 60 Leonardo paintings made in the crucial period he spent in Milan in the 1480s and 1490s, including the recently announced loan of the Louvre's exquisite version of the Virgin of the Rocks (1486). Once-in-a-lifetime stuff.

Stephen Merchant Hammersmith Apollo, W6. Nov 28-Dec 1 (0844 844 0444, livenation.co.uk)The writing partner of Ricky Gervais emerges from the shadows with his own tour: there's plenty of embarrassment but less of the Gervais-hued political incorrectness.